Justin Trudeau says house prices in Vancouver and Toronto have become a ‘significant barrier’ to ownership in those cities

OTTAWA—Housing affordability in Vancouver has become a “significant crisis,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday in one of the clearest signals yet the Liberal government is considering new measures to cool frothy real-estate markets.

Mr. Trudeau’s comments about Vancouver housing come on the heels of reports this week from the International Monetary Fund and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which warned about the risks posed to Canada’s economic outlook by record-high household debt...